Search Results for 'Xbee'

NASA’s Ames Research Center is putting the first ZigBee radio network into space! XBee radios will form a prototype telemetry system on a NASA Soarex sounding rocket launching this coming January, 2015.

The NASA sounding rocket will journey into space around 200 miles above the earth, run experiments and then return ballistically into the Atlantic Ocean. The on-spacecraft ZigBee network will be used to monitor a new parachute-like exo-brake that will be deployed for testing hypersonic braking in the thin upper-atmosphere. Exo-brakes are being tested for returning samples from Earth orbit, and for slowing landers on other planets like Mars where the atmosphere is much thinner than Earth’s.

Soarex launch

A three-node XBee ZigBee network will be used to monitor the exo-brake performance so that no wires need to be added to the device. The nodes will monitor six different acceleration parameters as well as overall temperature and air pressure. Future wireless networks may be used to monitoring the spacecraft structure itself. This network can also be made available to other experiments on the same flight to route their telemetry to an Iridium radio that transmits all the data via satellite back to Earth. This last link is essential because the sounding rocket will not be recovered intact. Like Laika the Soviet Space Dog, NASA’s XBees are taking a one way trip for the benefit of science.

Wireless networks on spacecraft are a new idea. Traditionally all onboard connections use physical cabling. This adds weight, complexity and the need for extra fuel. Because aerospace is a necessarily conservative endeavor, new technologies are typically introduced slowly. Therefore rather than just taking everything wireless all at once, ZigBee is being tested first on missions where the higher risk of new tech is acceptable. After successful trials the systems should be proven enough to go into a hardening process before being incorporated into more critical projects where risks must be kept to a minimum.

XBee Arduino prototypesc

Modern NASA programs are mandated to avoid the expense of creating custom hardware when viable alternatives are available commercially. Experimental systems like wireless networks for spacecraft are also started on shoestring budgets, often assisted by student engineers. Therefore everything on this ZigBee project is being prototyped using off-the-shelf maker components such as Arduino boards, adapter shields from SparkFun Electronics and XBee ZB radio modules from Digi International. XBee was selected because it is easy to incorporate with Arduino, well-documented and readily commercially available.

Soarex payload bays

The system is being designed with a little help from my Building Wireless Sensor Networks book, and a lot of expertise from the NASA team. If this first test goes well, the next version will be more customized and could include the Programmable XBee or even the XBee Plus Arduino board that I’ve been prototyping over the last few months.

The XBee Plus Arduino is an XBee radio-sized Arduino-compatible microcontroller that can be “stacked” directly underneath the radio. It is intended for use with devices that already use the XBee’s 20-pin footprint. Future designs could easily utilize other microcontrollers or host sensors. The goal is to create plug-and-play tools for prototyping new concepts that extend the popular radio’s feature set. A few iterations have created a prototype that works well, supports USB programming, wireless programming, I2C, SPI, digital and analog I/O!

XBee Plus Arduino

This is the second iteration of an Arduino-compatible board the size of an XBee that fits right underneath the radio. It uses the ATMega32U4 so in Arduino you can program it as a Leonardo board.

Licensing

The LilyPad XBee sew-in wearable radio created by myself and Kate Hartman just got an update to add a reset button and improve its manufacturability. This board can be paired with LilyPad wearable sensors, custom built sensors and a variety of output devices to create a complete wireless wearable system. Available from Sparkfun for just $14.95 with discounts available for larger quantities. Get yours today!

The Stacker is an XBee radio-sized Arduino-compatible microcontroller that can be “stacked” directly underneath the radio. It is intended for use with devices that already use the XBee’s 20-pin footprint. Future designs could easily utilize other microcontrollers or host sensors. The goal is to create plug-and-play tools for prototyping new concepts that extend the popular radio’s feature set. A few iterations have created a prototype that works well, supports USB programming, wireless programming, I2C, SPI, digital and analog I/O!

XBee Stacker 2

This is the next iteration of an Arduino-compatible board the size of an XBee that fits right underneath the radio. It uses the ATMega32U4 so in Arduino you can program it as a Leonardo board.

Licensing

For the latest Digi Hackathon, I headed overseas to hold our first ever creative construction event at Digi’s office in Logroño, Spain. Using XBee WiFi Cloud Kits, the four teams hacked away for what was the most competitive session yet. In a matter of hours, each team had to quickly brainstorm, build, and present their cloud-connected projects. Their results were terrific.

Last week, we held a Digi Employee Hackathon to put the new XBee Wi-Fi Cloud Kit to the test. This is one of several ways we are working on designing outstanding user experiences for new Digi products. With the kits, the teams were able to build projects that connected with the cloud right away. One team member reported, “I got from the box to the cloud in under 20 minutes.” Using the kit’s dashboard, new widgets were developed to whimsically represent data being collected by Device Cloud. Rain, food safety and even child development were addressed by our project teams.

I’m looking forward to doing more of these internal hackathons in the coming year. They’re fun!

The new XBee Wi-Fi Cloud Kit won an Editor’s Choice award at Maker Faire NYC! My team at Digi International has been hard at work all summer bringing together this modular kit to help users create XBee Wi-Fi connected devices for the Internet of Things. There’s a development board with all kinds of input and output components plus modular widgets to make building online web interfaces for seeing data and controlling devices a snap. The kit gets online right out of the box, and contains additional loose components to help you create your own circuits and wire them to the web. Look for an XBee Wi-Fi Cloud Kit release in November.

This new project creates XBee radio-sized components that can be “stacked” directly underneath the radio. Each Stacker will add additional features like microcontrollers and sensors for devices that already use the XBee’s 20-pin footprint. The goal is to create plug-and-play tools for prototyping new concepts that extend the popular radio’s feature set. A few iterations have created a prototype that works great!

XBee Stacker Arduino

The first design is an Arduino-compatible board the size of an XBee that fits right underneath the radio, creating a Arduino-programmable XBee.

Wireless Programming (Arduino XBee OTA)

This XBee Stacker can be programmed wirelessly using an Arduino setup first prototyped by me, then greatly improved by Limor Fried and later Shigeru Kobayashi. I’m borrowing it back now, thanks everyone!

Parts

Configure Your XBees

XBees are factory configured for 9600 baud. The Arduino IDE typically sends programs (sketches) at 57600 baud. In addition, Arduino needs to reset the microcontroller on your remote board just before sending over a new sketch. This is cleverly accomplished by linking one of the base station’s hardware handshaking lines briefly to the reset line on the remote Arduino-based microcontroller. Here’s the chain of events:

If you are using CoolTerm or another Serial Terminal, use ATWR to save the configuration to your XBee’s firmware.

After you change their baud rate the radios will no longer respond at 9600 baud. Be sure to change the baud rate in X-CTU or CoolTerm to 57600 if you want to check or update their configurations.

Configure Your Hardware

The “Base” XBee’s DIO3 and RTS pins need to be connected together. If you are using an XBee Explorer, simply solder a jumper or wire between these two pins.

Nate at Sparkfun shows the solder jumper you will need.

(If you are using Digi’s XBIB board or a different adapter, find the appropriate pins and then short them together either with some solder or with a bit of wire. Either method is reversible.)

Upload Sketches

Now you can start uploading Arduino sketches wirelessly! Simply:

Connect your “Base” XBee into the modified XBee Explorer USB (or your own adapter) connect it to your computer with a USB cable.

Stack your “Remote” XBee onto the XBee Arduino Stacker and provide it with power (a second Explorer or XBIB is an easy way to power it for tests).

Select “Arduino Uno” in the Tools:Board menu and select the correct serial port from the Tools:Serial Port menu.

Open the sketch you’d like to upload.

Click the Upload button!

Should you get an error message, try again in case it’s just a one-time glitch. Next carefully recheck each connection and configuration item, one at a time. It’s very common to get something set wrong the first time you try this so go through it methodically and patience will pay off.

Licensing

This week I’m heading to Newcastle upon Tyne in the U.K. for Connecting Light, 400 giant illuminated balloons that will cross England coast to coast along Hadrian’s Wall, a 2000-year-old Roman barrier. This will be my first exposure to 73-mile-long art! The interactive installation was networked with help from me and Digi using Programmable XBees and the venerable iDigi Device Cloud. Connecting Light was conceived and built by my friends at the YesYesNo collective, including artists Zach Lieberman and Molmol Kuo. You can see it in person in the U.K., or watch it online the evenings of August 31 and September 1st.

This video shows them testing it few weeks ago, along the New York City waterfront:

You want your project noticed? Nobody can ignore a hyperactive cymbal-playing chimp that creates a cacophony of sound when triggered over the Internet. Inspired as always by Tom Igoe’s Making Things Talk, we hooked this toy terror up to an XBee radio, creating a wireless alarm that grabs the ear as well as the eye and the heart. From the project instructions on the Digi Examples site:

By pairing an XBee with your percussive primate, you create an unmistakable alarm that gets immediate attention. It’s a first-rate way to present alerts that cannot be ignored. Web server down? Customer service queue climbing beyond your comfort? Kids ignoring their chores? This easy hack will put a monkey on their back, and he won’t let go until the warning is heeded!